HE  JUDGMENT 
>F  THE  ORIENT 

i 

K'UNG  YUAN  KU'SUH 


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e 


The  Judgment  of  the  Orient 


The  Judgment  of 
the  Orient 


Some  Reflections  on  the  Great  War  Made  by 
the  Chinese  Student  and  Traveller 

K'ung  Yuan  Ku'suh 


Edited  and  Rendered  into  Colloquial  English 

By 
Ambrose  Pratt 


E.  P.  Dutton  &  Company 

681  Fifth  Avenue 

New  York 

1917 


THE    JUDGMENT   OF    THE 
ORIENT 


WHERESOEVER  I  have  wandered  in  the 
Occident  I  have  found  the  peoples  earnestly 
seeking  to  discover  whom  a  remote  pos- 
terity shall  blame  for  the  Great  War.  It 
is  very  strange  to  a  simple  Oriental  that 
the  subtle  and  cultivated  minds  of  Euro- 
peans should  be  interested  in  the  judg- 
ment of  their  probable  grandchildren.  We 
Chinese,  who  are  taught  to  rule  our  actions 
in  conformity  with  the  admirable  precepts 
of  our  venerable  forebears,  are  not  con- 
cerned hi  speculating  what  our  descendants 
may  think  of  us,  for  it  is  very  certain  we 
shall  be  judged  in  comparison  with  our 
ancestors  and  accounted  worthy  or  un- 

5 


2216931 


worthy  as  our  conduct  shall  approximate 
or  recede  from  the  flawless  standards  of 
antiquity.  I  am  of  opinion  that  the  East 
differs  from  the  West  in  nothing  more 
decisively  than  in  this  outlook  of  the  soul. 
The  East  looks  into  the  past  for  its  direc- 
tions, and  its  course  is  shaped  accordingly 
with  tranquillity  and  certitude.  The  West 
has  no  historic  sense  deserving  of  the  name. 
It  is  impatient  of  all  mortmain  restrictions. 
It  scorns  experience  and  revels  in  experi- 
ment. It  searches  constantly  for  change, 
and  it  looks  forward  with  an  unappeasable 
ambition  and  an  optimism  as  resolute  as 
it  is  unwarranted  for  a  favorable  outcome 
of  its  vague  and  poorly  charted  strivings. 
The  spirit  of  the  West  is,  says  the  West, 
undauntedly  progressive:  and  the  West 
observes  derisively  of  the  East  that  the 
spirit  of  the  Orient  is  static — a  courteous 
euphemism  for  "retrogressive."  It  is  true 
that  we  hasten  slowly  in  the  Orient,  for 
our  mood  is  patient  and  our  minds  are 
contemplative.  But  all  change  is  not  pro- 

6 


gress,  and  the  restless  West  is  now  at  war. 
What  does  that  signify  if  not  that  the  theory 
and  practice  of  Western  civilization  have 
broken  down  and  that  progressive  Europe 
has  reverted  to  the  conditions  of  a  primitive 
and  savage  era?  The  only  feature  which 
pleases  in  the  cataclysm  is  that  every 
Western  nation  recognizes  equally  that  a 
monstrous  crime  has  been  committed.  It 
matters  not  that  they  agree  on  little  else  and 
that  each  belligerent  group  is  desperately 
eager  to  fasten  the  entire  guilt  on  its 
antagonists. 

We  perceive  in  this  universal  shrinking 
from  censure  an  underlying  common  sense 
of  culpable  responsibility  which  is  forced 
into  expression  by  the  forward-looking 
spirit  of  the  Occident.  The  warring  nations 
care  not  greatly  how  living  generations 
shall  regard  then*  conduct,  and  they  offend 
each  other  with  unbridled  recklessness: 
but  all  alike  betray  a  passionate  anxiety 
to  be  held  blameless  by  generations  yet 
unborn.  There  is  something  almost 

7 


pathetic  in  the  faith  they  unconsciously 
evince  in  the  competence  of  a  future  world 
to  dispense  justice:  and  also  in  their 
evidently  shared  belief  that  the  judgment 
of  posterity  will  be  lucid,  decisive,  and 
unanimous.  This  faith  and  this  belief  are 
in  no  wise  to  be  discounted  by  the  pains 
each  warring  Power  is  at  present  taking 
to  confuse  the  judgment  of  posterity  by 
special  pleading  and  by  building  up  great 
official  libraries  of  distorted  facts  and 
twisted  evidence.  These  are  purely  instinc- 
tive and  therefore  unavoidable  develop- 
ments, and  it  is  not  difficult  to  perceive 
that  each  nation  is  infused  with  the  con- 
viction it  is  laboring  in  vain,  and  that 
some  day  in  the  distant  future  it  will  be 
stripped  of  its  pretensions  and  required 
to  pay  the  penalty  of  its  misdeeds. 


THE  Germans  are  a  rarely  gifted  people — 
also  they  are  strangely  limited.  They  have 
large  and  highly  cultivated  brains,  small 
and  imperfectly  developed  minds.  The  soul 
of  the  nation  is  young,  almost  infantile. 
It  has  not  been  allowed  to  mature  and  it 
has  been  forcibly  prevented  from  expansion 
by  a  despotically  perverted  and  effectively 
organized  dedication  of  the  whole  energies 
of  the  people  to  the  pursuit  of  material 
success.  During  the  time  I  spent  in 
Germany  I  was  oppressed  with  a  dis- 
tinct and  unescapable  consciousness  of 
being  unassimilatively  alien,  of  belonging 
to  an  older  and  more  genial  age,  and 
to  a  race  of  human  beings  animated  with 
a  wiser  and  a  gentler  spirit.  For  a  period 
I  experienced  much  difficulty  in  liking 
my  hosts,  despite  their  unaffected  anxiety 
to  please  me:  for  their  manners  are  crude 
and  unlovely  and  their  aspirations  narrow 

9 


and  sordid  almost  past  belief.  But  under- 
standing is  incompatible  with  anger  and  I 
came  at  length  to  understand  the  Germans. 
Psychologically,  they  are  a  nation  of  little 
children.  Those  big  bodies,  those  capable 
and  skillful  brains,  those  clever  hands,  are 
all  inhabited  and  ruled  by  immature  and 
stunted  souls.  It  has  been  my  fortune  to 
meet  and  know  two  giants.  I  encountered 
the  first,  when  still  a  young  man,  atPol'ii- 
hi.  His  name  was  Tchen-Ah-Quam.  He 
stood  more  than  seven  feet  high  and  he 
weighed  as  much  as  four  ordinary  men. 
He  was  a  gardener  by  trade  and  he  worked 
with  many  other  coolies  on  the  plantation 
of  my  father's  cousin.  Now,  the  strength 
of  T'chen-Ah-Quam  was  so  great  that  he 
might  very  easily  have  made  himself  master 
of  his  fellow  workmen,  and  compelled 
them  to  perform  his  tasks  or  to  pay  him 
other  tribute.  But  that  was  not  his  way. 
On  the  contrary  he  seemed  the  least  asser- 
tive of  all  the  laborers  in  my  father's 
cousin's  service,  and  not  only  did  he  per- 
form his  allotted  duties  with  industry  and 

10 


perfect  honesty,  but  he  was  always  ready 
to  take  upon  his  shoulders  the  burden  of 
some  weaker  associate.  Astonished  by  the 
humanity  and  orderliness  of  his  conduct, 
1  questioned  him,  upon  a  time.  "  T'chen- 
Ah-Quam,"  said  I,  "  it  surprises  me  that 
a  man  so  vigorous  and  capable  should 
be  content  to  pass  his  days  in  so  common- 
place a  servitude." 

"  Do  you  think,  Master,"  he  replied, 
"  that  in  some  other  occupation  I  could 
acquire  riches?  If  so,  it  would  be  to  give 
money  to  those  I  love  where  I  now  give 
services.  But,  indeed,  Master,  you  are 
wrong.  I  am  big  in  body  but  my  brain  is 
not  big.  I  am  very  fit  to  dig  the  fields." 

This  answer,  and  the  man's  life,  taught 
me  that  a  full-statured  soul  inhabited 
T'chen-Ah-Quam's  tremendous  frame,  and 
I  was  content  to  chide  him  no  more, 
for  is  it  not  better  to  be  God-like  than 
grasping?  Germany,  the  second  giant  I 
have  known,  is  a  monster  of  a  different 
species.  Germany  is  a  giant  possessed  of 
the  soul  of  a  dwarf — a  childish,  self-seeking 

ii 


soul,  not  intent  on  benefiting  mankind, 
but  infatuated  with  the  greed  of  gain,  and 
resolute  to  concentrate  all  the  powers  of 
its  enormous  body  on  the  acquisition  of 
material  advantages.  When  a  little  child 
sees  a  shining  thing  in  the  hand  of  another, 
does  he  not  covet  it  and  cry  for  it?  Does 
he  pause  to  consider  that  it  belongs  else- 
where? No  child  of  my  acquaintance  acts 
other  than  to  get  the  bauble  he  desires 
by  any  means  he  can.  I,  too,  was  such  a 
child.  Did  I  not  make  a  promise  to  my 
mother  not  to  use  or  touch  her  fret  saw 
and  sharpened  chisels:  and  did  I  not 
fly,  a  perjured  rascal,  to  her  pretty  cabinet 
the  moment  after  her  departure  to  join 
my  sickened  father  at  Ze-chan?  As  a 
grown  man,  I  must  needs  look  back  on 
the  incident  with  a  smile  of  shame  and 
pity  for  the  petty  soul  which  then  infused 
my  carcass.  Will  not  Germany,  perhaps, 
some  day  look  back  with  sorrow  and  con- 
cern on  the  puerile  wickedness  of  soul 
which  drove  her  corporeal  greatness  to 
chastise  the  helplessness  of  Belgium? 

12 


m 

I  HAVE  not  lived  with  the  Italians  long 
enough  to  understand  them.  I  fear  to  wrong 
them,  therefore,  should  I  pronounce  an 
estimate  of  them  without  a  reservation. 
They  seem  to  me  an  old  race — a  race  that 
has  matured  its  every  faculty  and  allowed 
some  of  its  finer  spiritual  attributes  to 
mortify  or,  maybe,  to  assume  a  twisted 
form  that  simulates  morbidity.  When 
Germany  forced  war  on  Europe,  the 
Italian  people  cried  out  with  a  single  voice 
against  the  outrage,  and  their  Government 
immediately  affirmed  its  right  to  denounce 
the  Treaty  which  had  for  decades  bound 
the  country  in  a  military  partnership  with 
Germany  and  Austria.  Now  it  is  very 
certain  that  Germany  and  Austria  were  the 
first  to  violate  this  Treaty;  for  they  de- 
clared war  on  France  and  Russia  without 

13 


consulting  Italy,  and  the  Treaty  pledged 
them  to  such  prior  consultation.  But 
why  did  Italy  pause  so  long  before  ter- 
minating the  alliance:  and  why  did  Italy, 
before  denouncing  the  Treaty,  exhaust 
every  means  of  exacting  material  compen- 
sation for  her  partners'  breach  of  faith? 
Her  conduct  suggests  that  she  was  willing 
to  condone  the  Austro-German  conspiracy 
against  Europe,  provided  only  that  she 
should  reap  a  territorial  advantage.  Italy 
fights  now  with  the  enemies  of  Germany, 
but  would  she  be  fighting  on  their  side  if 
Germany  and  Austria  had  conceded  her 
demands?  I  dare  not  say.  The  wrongs 
of  Belgium,  as  I  saw  with  my  own  eyes, 
filled  the  people  of  Italy  with  a  noble 
indignation;  but  I  think  the  soul  of  Italy 
is  as  crafty  as  it  is  emotional.  The  nation's 
soul  desired  to  behave  nobly,  but  was  it 
unwilling  to  accept  an  adequate  material 
reward  for  acting  wrongly?  I  confess  it 
terrifies  me  to  envisage  a  nation  which  is 
able  simultaneously  to  recognize  an  over- 


powering  duty  to  mankind  and  to  delay 
performance  until  non-performance  has 
become  unprofitable.  With  incomparably 
more  urgent  reasons  to  temporize  with 
Germany  and  to  sanction  courses  of  dis- 
honor, Belgium  did  not  hesitate  an 
instant.  I  admire  the  Italian  people.  I 
do  not  understand  them.  I  am  afraid  of 
them.  They  are  the  wisest  of  all  nations: 
the  subtlest  thinkers,  the  shrewdest  bar- 
gainers; and  withal  they  are  energetic, 
brave,  and  chivalrous.  Are  they  a  race 
of  Bayards  or  a  race  of  politicians?  I 
have  looked  into  the  nation's  heart  but 
cannot  read  it.  The  outer  chambers  teem 
with  dazzling  purposes,  but  there  are 
cavernous  recesses,  too,  which  hide 
mysterious  authorities  of  malformation 
and  restraint.  It  is  the  heart  of  a  classical 
and  pagan  God,  powerful  for  either  good 
or  ill,  cunning,  prudent,  avaricious. 


IV 

THERE  are  two  Frances — the  France  which 
bubbles  gaily  hi  the  sunlight  and  works 
and  wantons  with  an  equal  verve  when  all 
goes  well,  or  seems  to  go  well,  with  her: 
and  the  France  which,  smiling  still,  un- 
grudgingly prepares  to  die  that  France 
shall  live  when  her  sacred  soil  is  desecrated 
by  the  tramp  of  hostile  legions.  I  like 
better  the  second  France,  the  France  of 
to-day.  Least  of  all  the  world  has  this 
splendidly  regenerated  nation  cause  to 
grieve  that  Armageddon  has  appeared. 
War  only  could  have  transmuted  the  dross 
of  self-indulgence  and  the  sordid  aims  of 
bourgeois  industry  into  the  refined  gold 
of  patriotism  which  is  now  the  universal 
spiritual  currency  of  France.  Do  not 
repine,  oh  people  of  France,  that  so  many 
of  your  cities  have  been  demolished,  that 

16 


so  many  of  your  gallant  children  have 
been  slain!  You  who  survive  and  your 
descendants  are  and  will  be  infinitely 
richer  for  the  cruel  chastening;  and  the 
treasures  you  have  already  won  and  are 
destined  to  acquire  will  not  decay,  for  they 
are  treasures  of  the  soul.  Do  not  ask  for 
pity.  Your  right  is  to  be  praised.  From 
a  far  country  a  simple  Oriental  sends  you 
this  humble  word  of  greeting  and  lays 
this  tribute  at  your  feet: — You  have 
changed  to  good  your  worst  defects  and 
blemishes,  and  out  of  frivolity  you  have 
created  a  steadfastness  of  character  which 
terrifies  your  enemies  and  fills  your  friends 
with  admiration.  March  on  to  victory !  The 
way  is  rough  and  your  foes  are  strong  and 
merciless.  You  will  suffer  greatly,  but  your 
triumph  is  assured. 


I  SEE  in  Russia  a  race  of  kin  with  mine, 
immense  in  population,  immense  in  the 
primitive  and  latent  virtues,  immense  in 
ignorance  and  vice.  But  China  sleeps 
still,  and  Russia  Las  been  galvanized. 
Her  virtues  are  becoming  active:  her  vices 
are  hi  process  of  suppression  and  elimina- 
tion. The  vast  simplicity,  the  transparent 
guile  of  Russia  are  forces  too  enormous 
to  be  measured  even  by  the  Russians. 
Germany  comprehends  them  not  at  all, 
or  there  had  never  been  this  war.  The 
Germans  thought  to  batter  Russia  to 
humility,  seeing  often  Russians  prostrate 
to  such  treatment  dealt  them  by  their 
kind.  But  the  Russian  people  can  be 
humbled  only  by  their  kind.  Foreign 
blows  arouse  their  pride.  They  accept  such 
chastisement  with  momentary  patience 

18 


when  retaliation  is  not  possible,  and  when 
hurt  sufficiently  it  is  their  custom  to  re- 
treat. But  they  have  brooding  minds  and 
a  physical  capacity  that  thrives  on  suffering. 
If  they  retire  to-day  it  is  that  they  shall 
return  to-morrow  invigorated  and  revenge- 
ful. Germany  is  passionately  hated  by 
the  whole  Slav  race.  This  is  Russia's 
first  national  war  in  the  sense  that  Germany 
is  the  first  foe  that  the  entire  Russian 
people  ever  have  been  glad  to  fight,  and 
are  anxious  to  destroy.  It  is  a  racial  war. 
Of  their  own  will  the  Russians  will  never 
cease  from  fighting  while  they  have  the 
wherewithal  to  build  an  army  and  while 
their  enemy  survives. 


VI 


ENGLAND  entered  the  war  in  a  very  different 
spirit  from  that  animating  the  other  belli- 
gerent nations.  To  France,  Russia,  Servia, 
and  Belgium  the  issues  at  stake  were  vital 
— touching  and  threatening  then*  exist- 
ence. Germany  and  Austria  had  risked 
their  all  to  grow  greater:  therefore  they 
too,  perforce,  were  serious.  But  England 
had  no  similar  cause  of  apprehension. 
An  Island  nation  protected  by  an  all- 
powerful  navy,  he  was  hi  a  position  at  the 
outset  of  the  trouble  to  stand  aloof  and 
watch  Europe  commit  hari-kari  without 
fear  of  fatal  consequences  to  himself;  for 
it  was  perfectly  clear  that  whichever  side 
should  win,  the  ultimate  Continental  victor 
would  be,  if  not  exhausted,  certainly  in 
no  condition  to  challenge  the  unimpaired 

20 


resources  of  the  British  Empire.  Self- 
interest,  therefore,  suggested  that  England 
should  refrain  from  any  sort  of  active  inter- 
vention until  the  final  stages  of  the  Conti- 
nental struggle,  when  he  might  play  the 
part  of  arbiter,  perhaps,  without  firing  a 
shot  and  dictate  any  settlement  he  pleased. 
That  he  did  not  wait  but  flung  himself 
into  the  firing  line  within  a  few  days  of 
the  commencement  of  hostilities  on  the 
mainland  of  Europe,  proves  one  of  two 
things.  Either — as  the  Germans  plausibly 
contend — he  felt  unable  to  resist  seizing 
so  apparently  favorable  an  opportunity  to 
advance  a  long-cherished  secret  ambition 
to  crush  Germany:  or  his  intervention 
was  disinterested.  Which  is  the  truth? 
England,  of  course,  insists  that  he  inter- 
vened and  joined  forces  with  France  and 
Russia  from  the  noblest  motives.  His 
honor  was  pledged  to  Belgium,  and 
when  Germany  lawlessly  invaded  Belgium, 
England  was  in  duty  bound  to  fly  to  that 
little  Power's  assistance,  which  he  did — 

21 


having  no  honorable  alternative.  Germany 
admits  the  technical  grounds  of  England's 
claim,  but  scoffs  at  the  deduction.  England, 
says  Germany,  has  not  always  been  so 
prompt  to  respect  his  treaty  obligations; 
and  Germany  declares,  with  the  passion 
of  sincere  conviction,  that  England  would 
have  watched  the  violation  of  Belgium, 
without  venturing  a  protest,  If  Germany 
had  been  matched  against  a  less  powerful 
combination  than  that  of  Russia  and  France. 
My  opinion  is  that  Germany  is  wrong, 
and  that  her  contemptuous  estimate  of 
England's  motives  is  untenable.  The 
basis  of  my  judgment  is  purely  psycho- 
logical. On  the  physical  plane  there  is 
an  infinity  of  evidence,  documentary  and 
historic  and  political,  both  pro  and  con 
the  issue.  But  this  sort  of  testimony  is 
bewildering  to  simple  minds,  and  I  leave 
it  to  the  lawyers.  The  psychology  of  a 
people,  on  the  other  hand,  is  always  clear 
and  truthful.  The  mind  often  deceives: 
the  soul  never.  And  here  is  a  fact  which 

22 


cannot  be  disputed: — The  people  of 
England  (I  say  nothing  of  their  rulers,  for 
England  is  a  democracy,  and  the  people 
are  only  nominally  ruled  by  then*  King 
and  Parliament)  forced  their  country  into 
war  with  Germany.  They  made  the  war — 
not  the  British  Government.  The  Govern- 
ment would  have  kept  England  wholly 
neutral  if  it  could.  But  it  could  not.  The 
people  saw  Belgium  violated  by  Germany, 
and,  on  instant,  they  took  fire  with  indigna- 
tion. The  world  has  heard  a  great  deal 
of  the  treaty  which  pledged  Germany  not 
to  invade  Belgium,  and  pledged  England 
to  fight  for  Belgium  if  invaded.  But  the 
people  of  England  knew  little  of  that 
treaty  and  cared  less — before  the  war. 
What  inflamed  their  breasts  was  not  the 
breaking  of  a  treaty,  not  the  tearing  up  of 
"  a  scrap  of  paper,"  but  the  sight  of  inno- 
cent weakness  trampled  beneath  the  heel 
of  guilty  strength.  The  right  of  little 
nations  to  live  was  an  ideal  very  dear  to 
them,  although  they  did  not  guess  how 

23 


dear  until  the  right  was  brutally  assailed 
before  their  very  doors.  Then  they  knew. 

The  people  of  England  were  utterly 
unorganized  and  unprepared  for  war,  and 
they  were  perfectly  aware  of  their  unpre- 
paredness.  Nevertheless  they  declared 
with  one  voice  for  war,  and  for  immediate 
war.  Their  hearts,  their  souls  declared  it: 
not  then*  brains.  The  English  brain  moves 
slowly,  by  deliberative  ratiocinative  pro- 
cesses. The  soul  of  England  travels  like 
a  lightning  flash  when  it  is  stirred,  and 
its  mandates  cannot  be  restricted  nor  its 
will.  The  soul  of  England  ordered  war. 
The  Government  of  England  submissively 
obeyed. 

When  the  die  was  cast,  the  people 
stubbornly  refused  for  quite  a  time  to 
measure  the  abyss  into  which  they  had 
so  impulsively  and  swiftly  cast  then*  lives 
and  fortunes.  Upheld  by  a  sense  of  having 
acted  finely,  they  were  gay  and  wonder- 
fully cheery.  They  were  instinctively 
impelled  to  transfer  the  responsibility  for 

24 


further  moves  to  Providence.  "  We  have 
done  our  duty,  therefore  everything  must 
turn  out  well.  It  is  *  up  to '  God  to  see 
that  we  succeed."  Such  was  the  general 
feeling  of  the  nation  throughout  the  earlier 
stages  of  the  combat.  They  adopted  for 
their  rule  of  life  "  Business  as  usual,"  and 
not  until  necessity  had  sheathed  its  black 
fangs  in  their  bosoms  could  they  be  induced 
to  lay  aside  this  foolish  optimism  and 
approach  the  task  which  they  had  under- 
taken with  the  vigor  and  concentrated 
industry  and  resolution  requisite  to  insure 
its  satisfactory  performance.  This  awak- 
ening was  tedious  and  painful,  but  it  came 
at  last.  It  is  a  nation,  this  England,  which 
cannot  be  conquered.  It  may  be  broken, 
bruised,  defeated,  crushed,  and  ruined, 
but  it  cannot  be  subdued.  I  am  asked 
Why?  I  reply — its  soul  is  too  great.  My 
fathers,  what  a  soul!  It  is  hypocritical, 
but  it  willingly  exposes  and  laughs  gleefully 
at  its  own  hypocrisy.  It  is  a  smug  soul, 
but  it  candidly  despises  itself  for  its  smug- 

25 


ness.  It  is  instinct  with  reverence  for 
principles,  even  the  principles  it  most 
usually  offends.  It  is  full  of  sympathy  for 
all  weak  and  little  things,  and  will  not  let 
other  people  beat  them,  though  it  may 
abuse  them  itself.  It  is  continually  pur- 
suing the  path  of  self-improvement,  striv- 
ing earnestly  for  better  things :  often  failing, 
but  always  aware  of  and  ashamed  of  its 
defects  and  non-success.  It  is  an  under- 
standing soul,  and  therefore  tolerant 
and  humorous.  It  always  smiles  under 
punishment,  believing  its  punishment  de- 
served. It  is  a  covetous  soul:  but  it 
admits  the  right  of  other  nations  to  be 
covetous.  In  a  word — it  is  a  humane  and 
human  soul,  a  soul  that  passionately  de- 
sires justice,  and  is  anxious,  on  its  part, 
to  be  just.  Did  you  know  that  souls  have 
sex  as  well  as  stature?  It  is  a  fact.  The 
soul  of  England  is  not  hermaphroditic: 
it  is  intensely,  arrogantly  masculine. 


26 


VII 

I  SUPPOSE  it  is  inevitable  that,  for  many 
years  to  come,  the  unlettered  masses  of 
mankind  will  industriously  debate  the 
surface  causes  of  the  war: — Germany's 
world-empire  ambition:  her  far-seeing  or- 
ganic preparations  to  realize  her  aims: 
her  anxious  quest  of  pretexts  to  precipitate 
a  crisis:  the  adventitious  murder  of  the 
Austrian  Archduke:  the  brow-beating  of 
Servia:  the  blood-call  of  the  Southern 
Slavs  to  Russia:  the  minatory  conversa- 
tions of  the  Greater  Powers:  England's 
stupidly  conceived  attempts  to  pacify  a 
terrified  and  angry  continent:  England's 
fatal  failure  to  notify  Germany  in  direct 
and  simple  language  that  he  would  fight 
on  the  side  of  France  and  Russia  if  Ger- 
many persisted  in  going  to  extremes: 
and,  finally,  the  invasion  of  Belgium.  But 

27 


how  can  these  historic  happenings,  these 
governmental  sins  of  commission  and 
omission,  aye,  or  a  hundred  such  in  com- 
bination, satisfy  intelligence  that  the 
originating  causes  of  the  war  have  been 
revealed?  Causes:  they  are  not  causes 
of  the  war  at  all.  They  are  effects ;  merely 
the  outer  symptoms  and  external  instru- 
ments of  causes  operating  infinitely  nearer 
to  the  core  of  life;  unseen  forces  of  de- 
velopment, disorder,  and  disease.  The 
war  was  fanned  into  a  flame  by  some  or 
all,  but  it  sprang  from  none  of  the  events 
or  aims  or  failures  I  have  catalogued,  nor 
from  cognate  others  I  have  left  unnamed. 
It  was  born  and  fabricated  in  the  souls 
of  the  contesting  nations.  It  is  a  war  of 
souls.  If  we  look  deeper  still  we  shall  see, 
provided  that  our  sight  is  strong  and  clear, 
it  is  a  war  of  sex. 


28 


vm 

THE  sentient  world  consists  of  men  and 
women.  Men  have  souls.  Women  have 
souls.  Men  are  differentiated  from  women 
by  sex:  so  too  are  the  souls  of  men  and 
women  differentiated.  The  souls  of  men 
have  little  in  common  with  the  souls  of 
women.  They  are  just  as  like  and  just  as 
radically  unlike  each  other  as  the  bodies 
of  the  men  and  women  they  inhabit  and 
control.  Certain  ancient  philosophers  be- 
lieved that  woman  has  no  soul  because 
the  female  race  largely  functionates  by 
instinct  and  is,  at  heart,  unmoral.  Their 
opinion  has  been  tested  by  the  ages  and 
discarded  as  unsound.  Science  observes 
more  shrewdly  in  these  later  days,  and 
pronounces  less  prejudiced  and  truer 
judgments.  We  all  admit,  now,  that 
woman  has  a  soul:  but  the  cynical  philo- 

29 


sopher  of  modern  times  compounds  for 
his  concession  by  despising  woman's  soul 
as  a  mean  and  petty  spirit.  Those  of  us 
who  wish  not  to  be  cynical  state  merely 
that  the  soul  of  the  typical  woman  is  meaner 
and  pettier  than  the  soul  of  the  typical 
man.  We  prefer  no  charges.  We  record 
facts. 


IX 


THE  soul  of  a  woman  does  not  always 
inhabit  the  body  of  a  woman:  nor  the  soul 
of  a  man  the  body  of  a  man.  History  teems 
with  instances  of  women  possessed  and 
governed  by  virile  souls.  Life  teems  with 
instances  of  men  effeminated  by  the  souls 
of  women.  Yet  the  rule  holds  good  despite 
exceptions.  The  average  man  has  a  male 
soul:  the  average  woman  has  a  female 
soul. 


X 

THE  individual  human  being  has  a  soul. 
The  community  also  has  a  soul.  The  soul 
of  a  community  is  the  fused  sum  of  the 
souls  of  its  constituents.  To  say  this  is  at 
the  same  time  to  employ  a  figure  of  speech 
and  to  define  imperfectly  (yet  as  perfectly 
as  is  possible)  the  very  greatest  of  all  the 
metaphysical  and  political  forces  known 
to  and  recognized  by  human  science.  It 
is  customary  to  call  the  soul  of  a  nation 
"  the  national  consciousness,"  "  public 
opinion,"  etc.  We  prefer  speaking  loosely 
to  thinking  closely.  It  saves  trouble. 
Human  beings  are  intensely  indolent  in 
mind. 


XI 


JUST  as  each  individual  human  being  has 
a  sex,  each  community  has  a  sex:  and  just 
as  the  soul  of  each  being  has  a  sex,  the  soul 
of  each  community  has  a  sex.  The  sex  of  a 
community  and  of  the  soul  of  a  community 
is  determined  by  the  predominance  in  the 
community  of  masculine  or  feminine  soul 
characters.  From  the  earliest  times,  this 
truth  has  been  more  or  less  vaguely  recog- 
nized by  historians,  politicians,  and  philo- 
sophers; and  the  proof  is,  that  nations 
have  always  been  regarded  and  described 
in  bulk  as  belonging  to  a  distinct  gender. 
In  the  primitive  world  when  most  strong 
peoples  were  warlike  and  lived,  except  by 
fits  and  starts,  on  prey  and  plunder,  it  was 
usual  to  designate  such  a  nation  as  of  the 
3  33 


male  sex.  As  civilization  advanced,  a  crude 
discrimination  was  drawn  between  belli- 
cose and  peaceful  nations;  and  while  the 
former  type  was  referred  to  as  "he,"  the 
latter  was  called  "  she." 

In  mediaeval  and  modern  times  a  further 
step  in  wisdom  was  achieved.  It  having 
been  observed  that  all  nations,  whether 
bellicose  or  peaceful,  are  apt  to  be  more 
or  less  capricious  and  unfaithful  in  their 
international  dealings  and  diplomacy,  it 
was  agreed  by  tacit  and  almost  universal 
assent  to  ascribe  to  every  nation  alike  a 
feminine  massed  soul  or  consciousness. 

And  so  it  is  that,  even  to  this  day,  to 
think  of  a  nation  is  to  conjure  the  image 
of  a  woman.  But  we  who  are  thinkers 
should  do  wrong  to  remain  under  the  gov- 
ernment of  a  mental  habit  so  carelessly 
formed,  so  unphilosophically  contracted. 
It  needs  no  argument,  it  needs  scarce  a 
moment's  thought,  to  teach  us  that  the 
preponderating  soul  characteristics  of  all 
nations  are  not  necessarily  feminine.  We 

34 


require  merely  to  raise  the  question  to  per- 
ceive and  comprehend  the  truth  which  it 
enfolds.  Many  nations  may  have  the  one 
dominating  sex;  but  it  is  possible  that 
some,  or  one,  may  have  another.  It  is 
possible,  also,  that  the  soul  sex  of  a 
nation  may  by  time  and  circumstances  be 
changed. 


35 


xn 

HOW  may  the  soul  sex  of  a  nation  be 
determined?  It  may  be  determined  by 
examining  the  conduct  of  the  nation  hi 
peace  and  hi  war  and  by  contrasting  its 
conduct  with  the  conventional  standards 
of  individual  rectitude,  and  with  the 
conduct  of  other  nations. 


XIII 

GERMANY  claims  to  be  the  most  virile 
nation  in  the  world,  and  I  am  unaware 
that  any  other  nation,  or  any  living  occi- 
dental philosopher,  has  seriously  ventured 
to  dispute  her  arrogant  assertion  of  un- 
rivaled and  incomparable  masculinity. 
Nevertheless,  the  claim  of  Germany  is 
demonstrably  without  foundation.  First, 
examine  her  in  peace.  For  several  decades 
Germany  prepared  with  tireless  industry 
for  war.  Why?  She  desired  to  expand. 
Her  millions  needed  room,  she  says,  "a 
place  in  the  sun": — they  were  "choking 
down."  In  short  Germany  aspired  to  make 
room  for  herself  by  annexing  forcibly  the 
territory  and  possessions  of  her  neighbors. 
Hence  her  unparalleled  military  and  naval 
growth.  It  had,  this  growth,  an  immoral 

37 


object — conquest,  that  is,  plunder.  The 
men  of  Germany  worked  and  toiled  for 
years  with  this  ambition  hi  then*  minds. 
Did  they  labor  for  themselves?  Did 
they  covet  Naboth's  vineyard  for  their 
own  exclusive  and  particular  enjoyment? 
Impossible!  When  one  man  decides  to 
steal,  it  is  rarely  for  his  own  advantage. 
Usually  he  is  driven  to  his  crime  by  the 
desire  to  please  and  to  enrich  a  woman. 

When  many  men  decide  to  steal,  it  is 
never  for  then*  personal  advantage,  but 
always  for  the  State,  /.  e.y  for  the  wives  and 
daughters  and  sweethearts  of  the  thieves. 
And  the  women  of  a  robber  nation,  if 
they  countenance  their  men's  ambition,  are 
the  responsible  and  real  culprits:  for  the 
women  of  a  nation  are  the  nurses  and  the 
tutors  of  the  men.  Do  not  tell  me  that 
the  men  of  Germany  secretly  originated  and 
conceived,  and  then  for  thirty  years  success- 
fully concealed  from  their  women  the 
monstrous  resolution  to  subjugate  and 
expropriate  their  European  neighbors. 
38 


Let  us  be  honest  and  not  raise  false  issues. 
Guibert  expressed  a  half  truth  when  he 
said: — "Les  homines  font  les  loisi  les 
femmes  font  les  moeurs"  If  the  men 
of  Germany  adopted  the  ambition  of  con- 
quest, it  was  not  merely  because  they 
knew  their  women  would  not  reject  the 
fruits  of  conquest,  rather  it  was  because 
they  knew  then*  women  coveted  the  fruits 
of  conquest.  Women,  however,  neither 
plan  nor  execute.  They  inspire.  But  which 
is  more  culpable,  the  hand  that  reaches 
forth  to  steal  the  purse,  or  the  brain  that 
moves  the  hand?  And  which  is  more  culp- 
able, the  man  who  steals,  or  the  woman  who 
inspires  the  man  to  steal?  An  honest  man  is 
one  whose  wife  is  either  an  unusually  con- 
tented and  unenvious  woman,  or  a  woman 
whose  power  of  spiritual  influence  is  of  in- 
sufficient force  to  prevail  over  her  husband's 
native  sense  of  justice.  An  honest  nation 
is  one  whose  female  citizens  are  not  of 
stronger  soul  fiber  than  its  male  citizens. 
When  the  female  soul  collectively  pre- 
39 


dominates,  the  nation  is  potentially  dis- 
honest. The  female  soul  is  an  envious  and 
grasping  spirit.  It  respects  no  rights  which 
cannot  be  enforced  or  longer  than  they 
are  enforced.  It  submits  to  superior 
strength,  but  it  scorns  the  compulsion  of 
ethical  restraints.  It  will  get  always  that 
which  it  wants  if  it  can,  and  by  any  means 
it  can. 


40 


XIV 

THE  social  condition  of  Germany  supplies 
further  proof  that  the  nation  is  under 
feminine  dominion.  The  women  of 
Germany  have  never  as  a  race  shown 
themselves  solicitous  of  political  enfran- 
chisement. It  is  because  their  power  of 
government  through  sex  is  complete 
enough  to  satisfy  their  instinct  to  excel 
and  to  enslave.  The  men  of  Germany 
are  peculiarly  uxorious.  They  treat  their 
women  as  subordinates,  as  playthings  and 
house  fraus,  rarely  as  equals  and  partners, 
never  as  superiors.  But  the  women  are  con- 
tent. Women  do  not  rebel  against  mascu- 
line ill-usage  which  assumes  the  form  of  an 
apparent  sexual  tyranny.  Well  they  know 
who  are  real  tyrants  in  the  eternal  processes 
of  conjugation.  The  woman  with  a  lusty 
mate  is  ever  a  proud  animal ;  an  animal  not 

41 


in  the  very  least  degree  inclined  to  alter  the 
established  order  in  the  quest  of  illusory 
intellectual  advantages.  The  women  of 
Germany  willingly  concede  the  power  of 
lawmaking  to  their  men.  They  make  the 
morals  on  which  the  laws  are  founded 
in  the  home,  and  in  the  home  the  men  of 
Germany  only  seem  to  be  lords.  Actually 
they  are  pampered  helots:  beasts  that 
are  fed  and  flattered  into  an  unconscious 
acquiescence  with  the  fact  that  they  are 
slaves  of  sex. 


42 


XV 


IT  is  not  without  significance  that  Turkey 
is  Germany's  ally  in  the  war.  Turkey  has 
but  one  conspicuous  national  institution — 
the  seraglio.  Every  male  Turk  hopes  to 
have  many  wives.  The  sensual  male  is  the 
predestined  servant  of  femininity.  The 
soul  of  Turkey  is  depraved  and  essentially 
effeminate.  It  abandonedly  worships  the 
generative  principle. 


43 


XVI 

I  WAS  in  Berlin  when  the  German  Chan- 
cellor made  his  famous  speech  in  the 
Reichstag  admitting  that  Germany  had 
done  wrong  to  invade  Belgium,  but 
pleading,  for  excuse,  necessity;  and  ending 
with  the  defiant  proclamation — "We  must 
hack  our  way  through ! "  Thus  does  the 
typical  primitive  woman  always  forgive 
herself  for  breaking  an  inconvenient  law 
and  then,  in  the  very  act  of  sympathizing 
with  those  she  injures,  fling  herself  to 
the  furthest  extreme  of  uncompromising 
criminality:  "We  must  hack  our  way 
through ! "  Who  is  more  merciless  than 
the  wife  intent  upon  adultery?  But  she 
always  pretends  to  pity  the  husband  she 
dishonors,  and  often  she  interrupts  the 
kisses  of  her  paramour  to  weep  for  the  home 
she  has  defamed.  There  is  this  essential 

44 


difference  between  the  male  and  female 
criminal,  that  the  masculine  malefactor 
is  never  so  completely  lacking  in  the  sense 
of  humor  and  of  dignity  as  to  parade  a 
hypocritical  compassion  for  his  victim: 
but  the  female  wrongdoer  invariably  acts 
like  that.  When  the  Chancellor's  speech 
was  published,  all  Berlin  rocked  with  grief 
for  Belgium  and  madly  cheered  the  Prussian 
soldiers  on  their  way  to  complete  the 
devastation  of  that  small  unhappy  State. 
In  that  whirlwind  of  emotion,  the  soul  of 
Germany  shook  off  its  trappings  and  stared 
at  the  horizon,  the  eyes  dropping  tears,  the 
mouth  breathing  flames.  I  saw  the  face 
of  a  woman,  the  face  of  a  Medusa. 


45 


xvn 

WHILE  it  suits  a  woman  to  observe  a  law, 
or  to  respect  a  convention,  there  is  nobody 
more  scrupulous  in  complying  with  the 
obligations  thereby  imposed,  and  nobody 
more  indignant  and  virtuously  outraged 
to  witness  breaches  by  others.  But  when 
it  suits  a  woman  to  offend  the  code  herself, 
she  forthwith  discovers  that  the  said  law 
or  convention  merely  postulated  a  counsel 
of  perfection  impossible  for  fallible  human 
nature  to  follow  faithfully.  She  is  invari- 
ably astounded  when  called  to  a  reckoning 
for  her  sin,  and  she  never  fails  to  over- 
whelm with  reproaches  those  who  venture 
to  reprove  her  and  to  accuse  them  of 
hypocrisy.  It  suited  Germany  to  respect 

46 


for  half  a  century  the  treaty  which  guaran- 
teed the  inviolable  neutrality  of  Belgium: 
and  during  all  that  time  no  other  signa- 
tory Power  upheld  the  law  with  a  sterner 
or  more  exalted  affectation  of  fidelity. 
But  as  soon  as  Germany  saw  a  profit  in 
breaking  the  agreement,  she  did  not  hesitate 
an  instant  to  be  faithless.  England  called 
her  to  account  and  for  a  moment  Germany 
was  dumb,  stricken  with  amazement.  When 
she  found  her  voice  again,  she  poured 
forth  a  torrent  of  reproaches.  "What!" 
said  the  Chancellor  to  England.  "  Just  for 
a  scrap  of  paper  you  will  make  war  on 
us?  "  And  all  Germany  shrieked  invective, 
praying  Almighty  God  to  hate  and  punish 
the  English  for  their  perfidy  and  damnable 
hypocrisy.  Germany's  astonishment  was 
perfectly  genuine:  her  indignation  was 
transparently  sincere.  The  female  soul 
of  the  nation  could  not  understand  the 
nature  of  the  crime  it  had  committed: 
could  not  believe  it  had  committed  more 
than  a  venial  sin.  It  had  acted  sui  generis — 

47 


just  as  a  woman  always  acts  when  in  a 
difficulty.  And  just  as  a  woman  always 
feels  outraged  when  threatened  with  punish- 
ment by  a  man — whatever  she  has  done  to 
deserve  it — the  female  soul  of  Germany 
felt  outraged  and  aghast  when  masculine 
England  menaced  her  with  chastisement. 


48 


XVIII 

THE  male  soul,  like  the  female  soul,  is 
compact  with  faults  and  virtues.  Its  faults 
are  distinguished  in  kind,  as  well  as  in 
degree,  from  the  faults  peculiar  to  the  female 
soul.  The  male  soul  is  apt  to  be  cruel,  but 
it  is  incapable  of  spite.  It  can  hate  even 
unto  death,  but  it  is  always  willing  to  raise 
a  fallen  enemy.  It  can  willfully  destroy, 
but  it  cannot  deliberately  torture.  It  loves 
justice,  and  except  when  influenced  by  pas- 
sion, it  voluntarily  serves  the  ends  of  justice. 
The  female  soul  neither  loves  nor  hates 
justice,  and  the  only  cause  it  serves  with 
spontaneity  is  that  of  generation.  The 
typical  woman  loves  herself  above  the 
world  until  she  has  a  child.  She  then 
transfers  the  larger  part  of  her  devotion 
to  her  offspring,  whose  interests  she  will 
prosecute  at  any  cost,  to  the  interests  of  all 
4  49 


other  persons  if  she  can,  careless  of  moral 
sanction  or  ethical  restraints.  The  national 
soul  of  Germany  reveals  its  ruling  feminine 
characteristic  most  clearly  when  contrasted 
with  the  national  soul  of  England.  That 
of  England  is  conspicuously  distinguished 
by  its  respectful  consideration  for  the 
conventional  rights  of  smaller  independent 
States,  and  by  a  sentimental  readiness  to 
elevate  the  status  of,  and  to  concede 
autonomous  powers  to,  subject  peoples. 
The  masculine  soul  is  tolerant,  sentimental, 
and  somewhat  indolent.  The  female  soul 
is  impatient,  cupidinous,  and  energetically 
bent  on  exploitation.  Germany  has  always 
ruled,  as  with  a  rod  of  iron,  the  peoples 
she  has  subjugated:  and  freedom  of  action 
in  her  colonies  is  a  thing  unknown.  She 
built  up  her  mighty  strength  with  no  desire 
to  achieve  moral  greatness,  but  simply 
to  destroy  the  privileges  and  to  annex 
compulsorily  the  property  of  her  weaker 
neighbors.  The  present  war  was  sensibly 
precipitated  by  England's  magnanimous 

50 


grant  of  self-government  to  the  Boers  in 
South  Africa.  From  the  outset,  Germany 
regarded  that  wonderful  experiment  with 
emotions  of  profound  concern,  and  she 
watched  its  progress  towards  success  with 
an  ever-growing  consternation.  With  all 
her  heart  she  resented  the  new  Ethic  that 
she  saw  in  process  of  establishment,  for 
it  seemed  to  her  to  menace  with  obliteration 
the  essential  raison  d'etre  of  war.  She  felt 
it  incumbent  on  her  at  all  hazards  to  shatter 
the  experiment  before  the  world  should 
realize  its  inner  meaning  and  its  real 
aims:  last,  perceiving  its  results  consoli- 
dated, the  world  should  accept  the  new 
Ethic  and  co-operate,  under  the  spiritual 
(and  possibly  the  political)  hegemony  of 
England,  for  its  perpetuation  and  defense. 
And  herein  is  the  reason  why  Germany, 
as  soon  as  war  was  declared,  strove  her 
very  utmost  to  promote  a  Boer  rebellion 
and  to  incite  the  Dutch  peoples  of  South 
Africa  to  prove  themselves  recreant  to 
their  plighted  word,  and  unworthy  of  the 


gracious  and  genial  treatment  England  had 
accorded  them.  Only  a  female  soul  could 
have  conceived  a  policy  at  once  so  crafty 
and  so  spiteful.  Germany  knows  well  that 
the  complete  loss  of  South  Africa  could 
not  have  impaired  in  the  smallest  degree 
England's  military  and  naval  efficiency: 
but  she  was  also  aware  that  such  an  event 
would  have  humbled  England's  pride: 
and  she  yearned  to  demonstrate  that  mag- 
nanimity is  an  unprofitable  course  for  any 
nation  to  pursue  in  its  dealings  with  alien 
or  conquered  communities. 


XIX 

THE  female  soul  is  profoundly  superstitious. 
When  all  goes  well  it  is  content  to  worship 
the  unseen  with  formal  genuflections:  but 
when  beset  by  unaccustomed  troubles,  or 
harassed  by  fear  of  pain,  it  instantly  pro- 
strates itself  before  a  shrine,  and  screams 
God  to  partner  its  affliction  and  to  con- 
found the  physical  agent  of  its  threatening 
grief.  The  enemy  of  every  pious  woman 
is,  in  her  opinion,  the  arch  foe  and  anta- 
gonist of  God.  Within  a  few  hours  of  the 
outbreak  of  the  present  war,  the  German 
nation  adopted  a  new  National  motto: — 
"Colt  mit  i/iis,"  and  the  Divine  Essence 
had  become  a  personal  Deity  and  the  foster- 
parent  of  the  Kaiser.  England  and  France 
approached  their  altars  too:  but  with  less 
cock-sureness.  They  asked  Heaven  to 
judge,  but  they  did  not  anticipate  the 

53 


verdict.  The  women  of  England  and  France 
may  have  been  as  silly  as  the  women  of 
Germany,  but  if  so,  their  behavior  failed 
substantially  to  affect  the  general  attitude 
of  their  nations  towards  Heaven.  Their 
attitude,  indeed,  remains  to-day  much  as 
it  was  before  the  war.  England  is  perhaps 
more  reverent,  and  France  more  prayerful: 
but  the  posture  of  both  nations  is  masculine 
and  dignified.  The  position  of  Germany, 
per  contra,  is  that  of  an  impassioned 
pagan  priestess  urging  on  her  servant-god 
to  reward  her  ministrations  by  super- 
naturally  augmenting  the  capacity  of  her 
people  to  pillage,  murder,  and  destroy. 


54 


XX 


MEN  and  women  are  natural  enemies.  The 
war  between  the  sexes  is  unceasing.  Nature 
has  entrusted  to  women  the  work  of  con- 
tinuing the  species  and  improving  it.  Men 
are  necessary  factors  in  this  work,  but  their 
sexual  functioning  is  only  intermittently, 
while  woman's  is  continuously,  operative. 
To  men,  sex  is  a  goad  driving  them 
now  towards,  now  from  woman.  Woman 
cannot  free  herself  from  the  government 
of  sex,  and  her  slavery  must  be  perpetual, 
lest  the  purposes  of  nature  be  frustrated. 
She  is  doomed  to  attempt  the  subjugation 
of  men  as  long  as  she  is  capable  of  bearing 
children,  for  she  needs  both  to  be  fertilized 
and  to  be  supported  by  man.  Woman 
succeeds,  because  a  traitor  sits  in  the  citadel 
of  every  man's  heart.  It  is  the  instinct  of 
normal  woman  to  make  one  man  of  per- 
manent use  to  her — her  bonded  servant. 
It  is  the  instinct  of  normal  man  to  satisfy 

55 


the  passion  which  draws  him  to  one  woman, 
and  to  abandon  the  woman  who  provokes  it 
— for  another.  Man  was  made  by  nature  a 
polygamist.  The  supreme  demonstration 
of  woman's  craft,  and  of  the  superiority 
of  instinct  over  reason,  is  that  woman  has 
imposed  monogamy  upon  the  greater  part 
of  the  world.  The  battle  lasted  many  ages. 
Woman  won  it.  The  evolutionary  develop- 
ment of  the  human  species  is  now  pro- 
ceeding along  courses  not  originally 
planned  by  nature,  for  all  conventions 
which  restrict  polygamy  contradict  the 
simpler  purposes  of  evolution.  The  new 
order  may  develop  modifications  of  type 
and  structure.  It  may  expedite  or  retard 
modifications  that  possibly  had  been 
originally  designed.  (Query:  The  disap- 
pearance of  redundant  toes — the  degenera- 
tion of  the  vermiform  appendix,  etc.?) 
Philosophers  may  speculate :  science  teems 
with  vague  and  wonderful  ideas,  but  con- 
trols its  tongue.  The  human  being  of  the 
future  may  have  two  heads.  Who  can  tell? 
56 


All  social  conventions  are  in  favor  of 
women.  All  alike  are  fashioned  to  prevent 
the  abandonment  of  women,  and  for  pro- 
tracting the  enjoyment  by  women  of  male 
services.  Women  have  become  supreme 
executors  of  the  social  law.  Nature  obliges 
women  to  prey  on  men,  and  Nature  has 
fashioned  men  at  once  to  resent  and  to 
submit  to  female  tyranny.  Nature,  there- 
fore, has  made  man  merciful  and  woman 
pitiless.  Man  is  the  only  sympathetic  being. 
Woman  simulates  sympathy,  but  does  not 
feel  it.  The  supreme  weakness  of  man  as 
woman's  adversary  consists  in  his  higher 
intelligence  which  recognizes  that  woman 
is  the  bondslave  of  sex  and  prevents 
him  continuously  resenting  her  continual 
efforts  to  join  him  to  her  yoke.  Because 
of  his  comparative  emancipation  he  pities 
woman,  and  his  compassion  insures  his 
subjugation.  The  war  between  the  sexes 
is  a  blind  war.  The  sexes  are  amative 
enemies.  They  strive  and  struggle  for 
they  know  not  what.  The  combat  has 

57 


lasted  since  the  beginning  of  the  world. 
It  is  marked  with  monuments  of  female 
victories:  and  defeat  is  still  the  lot  of 
man.  Of  late,  indeed,  the  fight  is  visibly 
going,  except  hi  democratic  countries, 
with  increasing  speed  and  thoroughness, 
the  woman's  way.  Education  seems  to 
increase  the  sex  power  of  the  female,  and 
to  undermine  the  capacity  of  male  resist- 
ance. Educated  woman,  however,  is  in- 
clined, in  proportion  with  the  cultivation 
of  her  intellect,  to  repudiate  the  duties  and 
obligations  of  maternity.  Nature's  revenge 
is  to  implant  in  the  heart  of  the  female 
rebel  an  insatiable  craving  for  excitement: 
hence  her  invasion  of  the  sphere  of  politics 
in  all  democratic  countries,  and  her  am- 
bition to  enlarge  by  brute  force  the  material 
possessions  of  countries  whose  autocratic 
governmental  systems  impose  immediately 
unbreakable  restraints  on  her  explosive 
energies.  England  remains  to-day  the  most 
virile  state  in  Europe,  with  a  predomin- 
antly masculine  soul,  simply  because  the 

58 


women  of  England,  during  the  past  few 
decades,  have  relaxed  much  of  the  fury  of 
their  primeval  sex  warfare  against  their  male 
enemies,  in  order  to  chase  the  rainbows  of 
economical  and  political  enfranchisement. 
A  secondary  factor  meriting  attention, 
consists  in  the  numerical  superiority  of 
Englishwomen.  Whenever  a  monogamous 
country  has  a  large  surplus  of  female 
citizens,  the  unmarriageable  proportion 
necessarily  adopts  artificial  standards  of 
conduct  which  often  clash  with  the  con- 
ventions. The  unnatural  life  and  morals 
of  this  section,  inevitably  infect  and  react 
upon  the  body  politic.  The  result  is  this 
apparent  paradox: — The  State  which  has 
more  women  than  men  is  always  less 
effeminate  than  the  State  having  more  men 
than  women.  The  administrative  system 
of  England  (which  is  radically  democratic) 
set  the  women  of  England  chasing  political 
rainbows,  first  by  liberalizing  the  education 
of  women,  and  secondly  by  permitting 
the  women  of  England  to  recognize  the 

59 


feasibility  of  securing  a  toy  which  to  see 
was  to  covet :  because  it  seemed  to  be  their 
right  and  it  was,  nevertheless,  withheld 
from  them.  Woman  always  prizes  most 
that  which  is  withheld  from  her.  The 
women  of  England  are  bound  to  win  their 
will  at  last :  but  in  the  meantime  they  must 
lose  ground  in  the  sex  contest,  and  already 
they  have  suffered  the  soul  of  the  nation 
to  become  vigorously  masculine,  magnani- 
mous, and  just.  Per  Contra,  Germany 
confronts  us  to-day  the  most  conspicuously 
woman-dominated  State  in  Europe,  simply 
because  her  autocratic  system  of  Govern- 
ment has  constrained  her  female  population 
to  concentrate  their  attention  on  prose- 
cuting the  primeval  sex  war  according  to 
primeval  methods.  The  women  of  Ger- 
many saw  and  envied  the  larger  freedom 
of  the  women  of  England,  and  they  avenged 
themselves  according  to  their  kind  by  forg- 
ing fresh  fetters  on  then-  own  male  yoke- 
fellows :  that  is  to  say,  by  stamping  a  deeper 
female  impress  on  the  soul  of  Germany. 
60 


XXI 

THE  psychological  genesis  of  the  war 
between  Germany  and  Europe  is  sexual. 
It  is  a  war  between  the  femininity  of  Ger- 
many and  the  masculinity  of  her  neighbors 
— especially  the  masculinity  of  England. 
The  female  soul  of  Germany  captured 
the  industrial  efficiency  of  the  nation, 
cajoled  the  nation  to  adopt  a  criminal 
ambition,  and  finally  provoked  the  nation 
to  offend  beyond  forgiveness  the  entire 
masculine  world.  The  men  of  Germany 
are  not  morally  responsible  for  their  terrible 
behavior.  They  are  rather  to  be  pitied 
than  blamed,  for  their  souls  have  been 
hypnotized,  and  they  are  not  free  agents. 
Without  knowing  it,  they  have  been  en- 
chanted to  betray  their  sex,  and  to  fight 
against  their  brother  men  of  other  nations 
on  the  side,  and  at  the  behest,  of  a  localized 

61 


section  of  their  natural  enemies — the  female 
race.  If  they  could  be  awakened  suddenly 
to  a  full  perception  of  their  degraded  and 
infamous  estate,  I  believe  that  the  men  of 
Germany,  or  at  any  rate  a  large  propor- 
tion, would  demonstrate  their  horror  and 
remorse  by  forswearing  concubinage  for 
the  remainder  of  their  lives.  The  penance 
would  be  strictly  appropriate,  because  it 
would  punish  all  who  are  most  guilty  of 
forcing  on  humanity  this  fratricidal  struggle. 


62 


xxn 

IN  a  recent  number  of  the  Contemporary 
Review,  Professor  L.  T.  Hobhouse  wrote, 
"  As  events  came  crowding  on,  I,  for  one, 
saw — and  I  am  sure  that  countless  others 
had  much  the  same  experience — that  the 
struggle  was  quite  different  from  anything 
I  supposed,  that  essentially  it  was  not  a 
fight  between  one  country  and  another, 
but  a  struggle  for  the  elements  of  a  free 
and  human  civilization,  as  we  understand 
the  terms.  In  such  a  struggle  many  things 
may  go  under,  but  as  long  as  we  fight  hi 
this  spirit  we  shall  save  our  souls  alive." 
Professor  Hobhouse  was  within  reasonable 
distance  of  apprehending  the  truth  when 
he  penned  the  above  quoted  lines.  Yet 
it  evaded  him.  The  war  is  not  merely  "a 
struggle  for  the  elements  of  a  free  and 
human  civilization,  "  although  that  surface 

63 


issue  is  involved:  it  is  essentially  a  contest 
for  supremacy  between  feminine  and  mas- 
culine ideals.  The  feminine  ideal  reaches 
towards  material  aggrandizement,  and 
sanctions  the  employment  of  all  measures 
capable  of  attaining  the  desired  goal. 
Germany  has  staked  her  all  on  force,  hi 
the  present  war:  but  that  does  not  prove 
her  wedded  exclusively  to  the  doctrine  of 
Might,  or  that  she  believes  Might  makes 
Right.  She  is  using  force  because  it  seemed 
the  best  available  expedient  to  realize  her 
will:  and  had  Craft  appeared  to  her  more 
suitable,  she  would  have  chosen  Craft. 
The  masculine  ideal  is  by  no  means  indif- 
ferent to  material  success,  but  it  reaches 
also  towards  spiritual  excellence,  and  it 
visualizes  standards  of  conduct  for  the 
regulation  of  all  human  activities  where- 
from,  even  when  fighting  for  existence, 
masculine  communities  do  not  willingly 
depart.  The  only  way  to  confound  and 
shame  a  typical  woman  is  to  deprive  her 
of  the  prize  which  she  has  steeped  her  soul 
64 


in  infamy  to  win.  Allow  her  to  retain  it, 
and  she  is  self-satisfied  and  proud  of  her 
success,  because  to  a  woman  the  end 
always  justifies  the  means.  The  typical 
man,  on  the  contrary,  may  be  confounded, 
even  if  in  undisturbable  possession  of  his 
prize,  by  convicting  his  intelligence  of 
having  violated  honor  in  securing  it. 
English  thought  wrongs  Germany  in  sup- 
posing that  Germany  aspires  to  destroy 
the  elements  of  a  free  and  human  civiliza- 
tion. Germany's  crimes  are  sufficiently 
detestable  without  inventing  additions  to 
their  number.  The  fact  is,  Germany  is 
firmly  persuaded  that  the  elements  of  her 
civilization  are  more  free  and  human  than 
any  civilization  that  the  world  has  seen: 
and  she  believes  that,  if  she  succeeds  in 
her  efforts  to  appropriate  the  wealth  and 
to  destroy  the  independence  of  her  neigh- 
bors, her  victims  will  be  compensated 
for  all  their  sufferings  by  the  benefits 
her  Kultvr  and  enlightened  rule  will 
eventually  confer  upon  them.  Herein  we 

65 


have  feminine  psychology  depicted  in 
excelsis.  The  woman  soul  of  Germany  wants 
something  belonging  to  another.  The 
only  perceptible  method  to  secure  it  is  by 
force.  She  decides  to  use  force,  but  seeing 
clearly  that  her  victim  will  be  hurt  and 
tortured  by  her  acts,  her  female  soul  is 
disturbed  and  demands  to  be  comforted. 
Being  a  woman  she  is  excessively  vain. 
Her  ways,  therefore,  are  in  her  opinion 
the  best  of  all  ways,  and  her  face  the 
most  beautiful.  She  sincerely  believes  this, 
being  a  woman.  Hey  presto !  she  immedi- 
ately adopts  for  her  own  comfort  the 
pleasant  belief  that  she  can  do  no  greater 
service  to  her  intended  victim  than  to 
impoverish  and  to  enslave  him  so  that  he 
may  learn  the  joy  of  looking  on  her  face 
and  appreciating  her  nobility  and  beauty. 


66 


xxni 

THE  female  soul  is  inexperienced  in  the 
use  of  force.  Throughout  the  ages  it  has 
sought  and  gained  its  ends  by  craft.  It 
understands,  therefore,  less  how  to  employ, 
than  to  submit  to,  force.  The  laws  of  force 
are  the  only  laws  that  woman  constantly 
respects  and  fears.  The  soul  of  Germany 
is  making  an  almost  original  experiment 
to-day.  For  the  first  time  in  many  centuries 
it  is  administering  a  power  to  which  hitherto 
it  has  been  subject.  If  the  soul  of  Ger- 
many were  masculine,  Germany  might 
win  the  war:  for  the  male  soul  is  expert 
hi  the  use  of  force,  and  understands  its 
limitations — understands,  in  particular, 
exactly  how  far  the  power  of  physical 
compulsion  may  safely  invade  the  territory 
of  spiritual  resistance.  The  female  soul 

67 


is  absolutely  unaware  of  any  such  limita- 
tions: and  the  femininity  of  Germany's 
controlling  ego  has  long  since  plunged 
the  nation  into  cardinal  mistakes — in 
ignorance.  To  cite  a  conspicuous  example, 
there  is  her  harsh  treatment  of  Belgium. 
A  masculine  nation  is  too  wise  to  ill-use  a 
people  it  has  subjugated,  for  experience 
has  taught  the  souls  of  men  that  while 
the  body  may  be  overcome  with  compara- 
tive ease  by  the  brutal  pressure  of  a  stronger 
body,  the  spirit  of  the  conquered  cannot 
be  propitiated  to  accept  defeat  except  by 
kindness.  Thus  it  was  that  after  the  South 
African  War  had  ended  in  England's  favor, 
England  hastened  to  exalt  the  Boers, 
and  spared  neither  pains  nor  treasure  to 
convince  them  of  his  sorrow  for  their  sad 
estate  and  of  his  genuine  desire  to  salve 
their  wounded  feelings.  That  was  sound 
masculine  policy — a  policy  which  confessed 
recognition  of  the  psychological  truth  that 
a  persecuted  nation  acquires  resources,  by 
virtue  of  its  persecution,  against  which 

68 


the  physical  might  of  its  oppressors  must 
contend  in  vain.  It  is  pure  womanly  to 
persecute.  If  the  soul  of  Germany  had  been 
masculine — but  the  hypothesis  need  not 
be  further  pressed:  for  it  is  evident  that, 
had  the  soul  of  Germany  been  masculine, 
there  could  not  have  been  this  war. 


69 


XXIV 

LOVE  and  Fear  are  the  two  original  and 
elemental  passions  of  the  soul.  All  others 
are  derived  from  one  or  both  of  them. 
Hate  is  Love  perverted.  Cruelty  is  the 
child  of  Fear.  Germany  so  loved  the  outer 
world  that  she  desired  to  make  its  inde- 
pendent parts  incorporate  in  her:  and, 
encountering  resistance,  her  avaricious 
love  was  changed  to  hate.  She  complains 
now  that  she  has  no  friend  in  ah1  the  uni- 
verse, and  fear  has  made  her  cruel.  She 
is  terrible  because  she  is  afraid.  For  a 
like  reason  the  Turks  exterminate  the 
Armenians.  They  are  afraid.  Courage 
springs  from  confidence.  Courage  is  in- 
capable of  cruelty.  Those  who  are  confi- 
dent must  be  courageous:  those  who  are 
courageous  must  be  kind.  Be  of  good  cheer, 
little  Belgium.  Germany  tortures  thee 
because  her  soul  trembles  before  thee. 
70 


XXV 

Mulier  recte  olet  ubi  nihil  olet  Germany, 
thou  diffusest  too  many  odors  that  are 
strong  and  suffocating.  Every  lust  has  its 
peculiar  perfume.  The  lust  of  thy  cupidity 
smells  odiously.  But  what  is  that  subtle 
and  intoxicating  reek  which  emanates 
from  thy  sandals  and  the  hem  of  thy  robe, 
and  which  makes  thy  subjects  reel  like 
drunken  monsters  when  thou  stretchest 
forth  thy  hands?  Is  it  not  the  stench  of 
blood? 

Germany,  go  cleanse  thyself!  Put 
away  thy  filthy  lusts!  Take  off  thy  san- 
guinary decorations  and  lave  thy  body  in 
the  waters  of  repentance.  Come  to  us 
smelling  sweetly  of  nothing  save  thy 
womanliness  and  all  the  world  will  pardon 
thee.  Come  to  us  meekly  and  nakedly 
and  humbly  and  all  the  world  will  love 
thee. 


In  the  speech  of  Juvenal,  I  send  thee 
this  counsel  and  this  prayer:  Empower 
us  to  admire  thee  and  not  what  is  thine 
or  what  thou  covetest. 

Miremur  te  non  tua. 


72 


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